Thursday, September 17, 2015

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The J/111 class is pleased to announce
that the 2016 J/111 World Championships will take place 1st to 4th
August, hosted by the Island Sailing Club in Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK.
The Championships dovetail perfectly with Cowes Week, an enormously
popular regatta with J/Boats teams.

The highly anticipated regatta will make a welcome return to Cowes,
where the first ever edition was held in 2014. On that occasion it was
British team SHMOKIN JOE, owned by Phil Thomas and Duncan McDonald that
took the prestigious title. This year the Brits lost out to US team MY
SHARONA, skippered by George Gamble.

The J/111 is a thrilling, 36 ft racer, with enough headroom and comfort
below decks for the occasional cruise. Capable of planing at boat speeds
of 20 knots plus, the J/111 has achieved some excellent results this
year, including 3rd place in IRC 1 at Cowes, 6th in IRC 1 and 1st in IRC
2A at the Fastnet Race, and 3rd in IRC 1 at Dartmouth Regatta. The
class delight in highlighting the appeal of the boat to such a wide
spectrum of sailors, with a number of families and husband and wife
teams racing in the fleet.

“2016
is going to be the best season of J/111 sailing ever,” commented J/111
UK Class Chairman Chris Jones. “We are planning to match this year’s
fantastic World Champs that were held in Newport RI and add a season
long festival of J/111 class sailing starting with our open Nationals at
the J-Cup in June, a series of practice events, to the Royal Southern
pre-worlds in July. The Worlds will be followed by a chance to sail with
friends and family in a classic Cowes Week, not to mention The Round
the Island Race and a chance to see the America’s Cup World Series.

We already have a crew from Australia and a crew from Chicago on the
waiting list for charter boats, and the excitement will only build from
here. We do need every European J/111 owner to join the party, either by
bringing their crew to take part or helping us to charter their boats
to the many oversees teams that we are expecting to travel to for this
remarkable opportunity.”

The Island Sailing Club is well accustomed to the J/Boats family, having
hosted the J-Cup 2015 and numerous J/Boats owners’ social events. The
club is renowned for creating an extremely welcoming atmosphere and
delivering excellent race management.

The Island Sailing Club’s Rear Commodore Mike Peskett said, “We are
delighted to have been asked to run the J/111 World Championships in
2016, and particularly pleased to see the J/Boats returning to the ISC
after such a successful J-Cup Regatta in 2015. We also hope that many
of the J/111s will stay and compete in Cowes Week.” Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright/ Photoaction.com and Rick Tomlinson/ rick-tomlinson.com For more J/111 Worlds sailing information, please contact Key Yachting in Hamble- Paul Heyes- info@j-uk.com or ph +44-780-226-4141.